Croda supports Kayapo indigenous people during COVID19

Croda International Plc, which uses smart science to create, make and sell speciality chemicals that improve lives, is continuing to support local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing soap bars to indigenous communities in Brazil.

Croda has worked with its customer, Sinter Futura, to make and deliver 30,000 bars of soap to the 3,400 indigenous groups living in the Capoto Jarina reservation in the Amazon region. Increased hand washing is an effective way to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and this donation is helping people in the region to protect themselves during the pandemic. Indigenous groups often live in remote villages where access is challenging and there is limited immediate hospital care. Both Croda and Sinter Futura hope that this initiative will help limit the spread of COVID-19 within these communities.

Croda anticipates that this will be the start of ongoing support to indigenous groups in the region and is working with customers to establish funding to supply the resources and training needed for these communities to make their own soap.

Indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest play a pivotal role in preserving not only individual species, but large-scale ecological processes. For centuries, the Kayapo people have protected areas of conservation significance. They occupy three large continuous reservations that total around 10 million hectares, protecting the land from deforestation. This includes areas of rainforest as well as portions of cerrado (savannah-woodland) biome. 

Marco Carmini, Managing Director Croda Latin America, said: ‘It is so important to ensure we support our local communities during these difficult times. We have already worked to provide basics such as food and hygiene items to the communities close to our manufacturing site in Campinas.

“We are now delighted to be working alongside Sinter Futura, who, like us, have a strong focus on sustainability. Native Amazon communities are vital in helping to prevent tropical deforestation, one of the most effective ways to mitigate climate change. In supporting these communities, we are really living Croda’s Purpose, using our Smart Science to Improve Lives™”

A focus on mitigating the impact of climate change is in line with Croda’s Commitment to help limit global warming to 1.5% above pre-industrial levels through Science Based Targets. This is part of the company’s ambitious Commitment to become Climate Positive by 2030, which was announced earlier this year.